conclusion
what is the end game?
With a peace process and a two-state solution in the rear view mirror, and settler colonialism in full view, the endgame is not about destroying Israel or even dismantling Zionism. Rather the endgame is to achieve equal rights, freedom and justice for Palestinians who have for generations been deprived of their land, property, and human rights.
It is a painful irony that Palestinians have been humiliated and persecuted since the very time when new nations were beginning to emerge from under the yoke of colonialism, subjugation and occupation. As political analyst Marwan Bishara has said, what is needed now is “changing Israel's calculus, not defeating it, or destroying it. … This is how major powers gave up their colonialism and how South Africa ended its system of apartheid. They were forced to reconsider the calculus of gain and loss.”
What Bishara is saying is that it is not in Israel’s long term interest to continue holding half the population it controls without their human rights. And t is not in Israel’s benefit to rule through apartheid with two sets of laws, as its 2018 Nation State Law has codified. History has shown that people will rise up and demand freedom and justice from tyranny and Israel is not immune from such outcomes.
It is time for people of faith to stand witness for justice, in spite of the overwhelmingly heavy tolls. Currently attached to prophetic witness regarding Israel’s human rights abuses. In his foreword to a book on Zionism and its relation to Christianity, American theologian and Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemmann, acknowledges the cost attached:
- There is now an extensive literature... that shows how Christians are held in hock by accusations of anti-Semitism if they criticize Israel, or by a fear of such accusations that might come. It is clear now, as it could not have been clear in the 40s and 50s, that a critical stance toward the State of Israel is now an important matter, not only for the sake of the Palestinians, but for the sake of justice and security in the region. … Of course the matter is complex, but for a beginning, imagination must catch up with the realities on the ground.
- The pressure against any new imagination is immense. I know only a little of it but enough of it. When I urged in print that Braverman’s book [criticizing Israel] merits positive attention, I received a thirty-minute scolding and reprimand from a friend, a highly respected professional advocate for Jewish-Christian relations. This little experience is not important. It is enough, however, to permit me to sense how important this reconsideration is, and how much is now required to bring our imagination into critical contact with new historical reality.
Brueggemann tells his readers and students about the dawn of “a new reality” regarding conversations on Israel and Palestine, and maybe finally ending the complicity of the Ecumenical Deal. And he wisely concludes that as far as the security of Israel is concerned, “in the long run, security depends on justice.”
As people of faith, we are called upon to pursue justice. The Ecumenical Deal must end. Israel must be held to the same standard as other nations under international law. BDS is a growing non-violent global movement toward this end. In this kairos moment, we must confront any and all obstacles and be steadfast in our support of this call for justice.
What is required of us?
As people of faith, we are called upon to pursue justice. The Ecumenical Deal must end. Israel must be held to the same standard as other nations under international law. BDS is a growing non-violent global movement toward this end. In this kairos moment, we must confront any and all obstacles and be steadfast in our support of this call for justice.